Lenovo Legion Go review

After the Nintendo Swap proved that customers needed to have the ability to take their gaming with them on extra than simply their cellphones, handheld gaming gadgets received a brand new lease of life. This was largely due to a give attention to power-efficient however game-friendly x86-based cellular processors from AMD.

The Steam Deck was first – it was well-built and optimised, however Linux-based and restricted to pick video games in Steam’s personal retailer. But it surely didn’t take lengthy for different producers to catch fireplace and begin taking a look at handheld gaming PCs.

Asus launched its Home windows system, the ROG Ally, and now the Lenovo Legion Go is one other competitor within the area. It’s constructed on the identical processor, AMD Ryzen Z1 Excessive, has the identical quantity of reminiscence and storage, 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD, and kind of matches the ROG Ally in efficiency.

The AMD circuitry with Zen 4 structure and RDNA 3 era offers spectacular graphics efficiency on PC titles, and I get the identical satisfactory body fee and high quality as I did after I examined the ROG Ally. I can run video games like Starfield and Cyberpunk on medium graphics settings, between 30 and 60 FPS. These are low numbers for any performance-oriented gaming PC builder, however most of us could not need to pay as a lot for simply the graphics card as we’re paying for a complete handheld PC right here.

Many video games require a lot much less efficiency and run even higher at 60 FPS or extra, some all the way in which as much as the display screen’s most frequency of 144Hz. One draw back is that the Legion Go doesn’t help Freesync. Lenovo claims that it shouldn’t be needed with a display screen as quick as this one, with a body fee of 144Hz, however I appear to see a touch of it in some conditions anyway. Once I run the display screen in 60Hz frequency mode and restrict it to 60Hz, it turns into extra noticeable. However is that this an enormous drawback? No, you shouldn’t count on perfection in such an inexpensive system.

Mattias Inghe

Massive and daring show

You may be forgiven for considering that Lenovo had seen the ROG Ally after which crammed all of the upgrades and options they may consider to not solely construct on Asus’s pc, however remedy gaps the place it was missing. That’s not what occurred in fact – they’ve been creating in parallel, however because the Legion Go was launched just a few months later, it appears like a direct response to it.

The display screen is bigger, 8.8 inches versus 7, has a better peak frequency, 144Hz versus 120, and better decision, 2,560 x 1,600 pixels the place the ROG Ally has 1,920 x 1,080 pixels. It’s additionally a vibrant show with a gamut near the dci-p3 customary and a excessive brightness of as much as 500 cd/m2. Despite the fact that black surfaces leak some background gentle at full brightness, it offers crisp distinction, particularly if I dim the brightness to half, which isn’t an issue indoors.

The show may be very sharp and exquisite to take a look at, and so long as AMD’s {hardware} retains up, you get an exceptionally good circulate. The show means its additionally nice for non-gaming duties, like watching movies. Plus, the bigger floor space additionally offers higher immersion in video games. Ought to the total decision be an excessive amount of for the {hardware} to deal with in heavy video games, it’s simple to decrease it to both 1,280 x 800 or 1,920 x 1200.

Mattias Inghe

Controls like a Swap

The Lenovo Legion Go settings menu slides in from the aspect of the display screen with the press of a particular button. Right here you may also management body fee, and set different staple items for the system, comparable to sound quantity, display screen brightness, RGB gentle results within the controls, and easy efficiency and fan management. You additionally get a fast test on battery ranges to your pc and controls.

The controls are removable (like on a Nintendo Swap) and talk wirelessly with the centrepiece. This implies you don’t have to carry up all the Legion Go, which weighs virtually 9Kg. As a substitute, you may place it on a desk and sit with half a controller in every hand. Sadly, there doesn’t appear to be a central holder to connect them to, like there may be for the Swap. Lenovo should work on that.

The controls, whether or not in place or unfastened, are purposeful and really feel well-built. There’s the same old mixture of two d-pad management sticks, set off buttons on the highest, management crosses and motion buttons. They’re all moderately simple to succeed in and have good mechanical suggestions. If I had one grievance, it’s that a few the buttons on the highest have a barely oversensitive set off, so I have to study to not relaxation my fingers on them.

Along with these, there are additionally two extra buttons on every bottom that may be manually mapped to elective features in your video games. Truthfully, I keep away from them – they’re so simply accessible on the again that I’m always urgent them accidentally.

Mattias Inghe

…and two forms of mouse!

One factor that the Legion Legion Go boasts over the ROG Ally is mouse management. That is precious for a lot of non-gaming duties, and for further management and precision in sure video games. ROG Ally solved that with an alternate mouse pointer mode for one of many d-pad sticks, but it surely’s a poor substitute for a real conventional mouse.

That’s what you get within the Legion Go. Partly with a mouse pad on the entrance of one of many controls, and partly with what Lenovo calls FPS Mode. The fitting management has an optical mouse sensor on the backside, and a change that prompts that mode. It then turns into a daily wi-fi mouse, and might be positioned in a particular help and dragged throughout the desk. On the aspect of the management are mouse buttons that work as regular proper and left clicks, and also you even have a scroll wheel with a centre button press.

It sounds good in principle, however in actuality it’s not simple to make use of. The mouse is uncomfortable to grip with angular shapes, unusual button placement and a joystick that uncomfortably pokes my palm.

Mattias Inghe

See also  Linksys Atlas 6 review

The identical outdated gaming PC beast

With the suitable half as a mouse, I lose all different button controls on that aspect, and video games assume I’ve additionally linked a keyboard, so I’ve to painstakingly map the remaining buttons and controls to correspond to keyboard buttons, apart from just a few which might be pre-configured.

That’s assuming the sport you need to run has good help for it, which not all do. And even people who do, it’s not at all times simple. For instance, I examined this in Starfield and found after half an hour of button reprogramming that I had run out of accessible issues to press, and nonetheless forgot the bounce button.

As well as, on a few events I discovered that unfastened controls misplaced contact with the primary unit, so generally I needed to interrupt a recreation session, reconnect and even restart the entire Legion Go for every thing to begin working correctly once more. One other drawback with FPS Mode is that the left d-pad begins feeding WASD instructions to the system. It really works inside video games, besides that you simply don’t get the suitable analogue management there, however may be very impractical in all different modes.

Mouse management is a good suggestion, however Lenovo must high-quality tune the implementation earlier than it’s price utilizing. Will probably be a lot simpler to easily join a mouse and keyboard, and play that means as a substitute. It appears to work fairly secure.

Mattias Inghe

Virtually full as a docked pc

The best approach to join gadgets is through Bluetooth, however for those who’re like me, it’s your decision to have the ability to use Legion Go as your full PC. An excellent pc is an effective pc, and it might be a disgrace to not make full use of it. I like to recommend investing in a USB-C dock or a monitor with all that inbuilt.

You have got two USB-Cs, one on the highest and one on the underside. Each with the identical USB 4 pace, energy provide help and show port output. With a superb docking station, it’s simple to plug within the display screen, energy and wired equipment. You then minimise or shut Lenovo’s Legion House program to get a traditional Home windows desktop as a substitute.

The one factor lacking for full PC performance is a webcam. I’m simply as disenchanted on this as within the ROG Ally. Absolutely they may have supplied a easy one? In spite of everything, the most affordable laptop computer or pill has it. However certain, even that may be docked and hung in your desktop display screen.

Mattias Inghe

All video games in a single place

Legion House is an utility that begins robotically whenever you launch the Legion Go, and offers a console-like interface to maintain monitor of and launch put in video games. They’ll come from most main PC recreation shops like Steam, Xbox, Epic Video games and GOG. Lenovo additionally has its personal recreation retailer constructed into the Legion House, and you may freely add some other put in video games or programmes to your library.

When you have Xbox Recreation Cross Final, a menu for its streaming recreation library can be built-in, and also you get a three-month trial subscription to it as nicely. Lastly, there’s a tab for Android video games too, but it surely’s at present inactive with a “Coming Quickly” message, so what is going to seem there sooner or later stays to be seen.

It’s the identical complicated distress of leaping between totally different recreation shops and totally different interfaces to purchase, set up video games and get them neatly into the library menu in Legion House so as to then neatly and easily launch them. It could additionally require separate launchers and add-ons to begin, requiring their very own login and popping up with messages and necessities for safety codes, account linking, cloud seeding of save information and far more.

That is nothing {that a} Home windows gamer isn’t already frustratingly conscious of, but it surely provides an additional layer of muddle and annoyance to attempting to handle in handheld console format on a cramped little display screen. Then the mouse pad truly helps some, however removed from sufficient. That’s one more reason to dock the Legion Go – then you may configure every thing the way in which you need it first, and even fine-tune particular person video games after which return to handheld console mode.

Mattias Inghe

Worth and Verdict

The Lenovo Legion Go begins from £699/$699. It’s accessible from Lenovo, Amazon and Currys within the UK, and Lenovo, Walmart and Greatest Purchase within the US.

Just like the ROG Ally, the Legion Go has a powerful construct and it’s outstanding that it prices as little because it does. It’s a full-fledged mini PC with the capability for each productiveness and finances gaming which you can additionally play on whereas mendacity on the sofa, or for gaming classes on the go. That mentioned, these are quick classes, because the battery gained’t final greater than a few hours.

Lenovo raises the bar a bit from what the ROG Ally delivers, with a greater display screen and really versatile controls, however that results in frustration and complications as a lot as alternatives. Plenty of consumer suggestions and interface updates are wanted earlier than it’s perfected, and I believe Lenovo might have achieved extra of that internally first earlier than releasing this console. Not the entire {hardware} is high notch both – I’m not impressed with the comparatively weak sound, for instance.

Lastly, I’m as soon as once more asking pc producers and AMD to go all-in on the Ryzen Z1 Excessive, and launch extra compact computer systems with this good processor. Not essentially handheld consoles, however small gaming laptops at a superb value might actually stir the pot.

This evaluation has been translated and localised from M3 – you may learn the unique right here.

Specs

Product Title: Lenovo Legion Go 83E1000KMX
Examined: November 2023
Producer: Lenovo
Processor: AMD Ryzen Z1 Excessive, 8 pcs Zen 4 cores as much as 5.1 GHz
Graphics: AMD Radeon Graphics 12CU, 2.7 GHz
Reminiscence: 16GB lpddr5
Storage: 512GB ssd, micro sd slot
Show: 8.8 inch shiny ips, 2560 x 1600 pixels, 144 Hz, multitouch
Webcam: No
Connections: 2pcs usb-c 4 with displayport, 3.5 mm headset
Wi-fi: Wifi 6e, Bluetooth 5.2
Working system: Home windows 11 Residence
Different: Detachable gamepad controls, optical mouse, mouse pad, fold-out stand, carrying case
Noise stage: 0-37 dBa
Battery life: 40 Wh, approx. 1 hour 20 min recreation (full brightness), approx. 7 hours 30 min passive (low brightness)
Dimension: 29.9 x 13.1 x 2-4.1 cm
Weight: 865 grams